Tarpaulin cover systems are commonly used to cover cargo being transported by truck, train, ship, and other vehicles. It is often desirable to cover cargo to protect it from the elements. It may also be desirable to shield the cargo from view.
Cargo that is to be transported may be positioned directly on a vehicle, such as on a truck bed, trailer, or rail car. Alternatively, the cargo may first be positioned on a shipping base, such as a shipping or cargo pallet. The shipping base may then be placed on or in the vehicle for transport. In either instance, it is often desirable to cover the cargo being transported.
Tarpaulin cover systems are particularly common in the trucking industry. One type of shipping configuration comprises a rigid enclosure that fully encloses a cargo area. Such enclosures are commonly found on the back of trucks and trailers, and often have one or more openings in the enclosure for loading and unloading cargo. It is common for at least one opening to be disposed in the rear end of the enclosure. However, such fully enclosed and permanent cargo areas are not well suited for the loading and unloading of certain types of cargo. For example, very large or very heavy items are most easily loaded onto a vehicle, trailer, or shipping base from the top or the side using a crane, forklift or other lifting device. Therefore such large or heavy items are more easily loaded onto a vehicle, trailer, or base having no sidewalls or no roof. Flatbed trucks and trailers are well adapted to carry such loads. However, as discussed above, it is often desirable to cover the loaded cargo during transport, as well as during storage. Tarpaulin cover systems provide an attractive solution as they can be quickly and easily retracted or removed to expose the entire cargo area during loading and unloading.
Tarpaulin cover systems are known in the art. For example, flexible tarpaulin systems for highway trailers have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,575 to DeMonte et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,313 to Henning, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,117 to Henning.
Retractable tarpaulin systems can come in a flat-top style, as taught by the two Henning patents, or in a peaked style, as taught by DeMonte. An increasingly common style of flexible cover system comprises a plurality of bows that support a flexible cover. The bows, and thus the cover, are moveable, typically along the length of the base or vehicle, and may be retracted in an accordion-like manner to expose a cargo area. The lower ends of each bow typically comprise sliding means, such as one or more wheels or rollers, which ride in or on a pair of tracks or rails on the base or vehicle.
In some tarp cover systems, a headboard or bulkhead is mounted transversely on the front end of the trailer or truck bed. The headboard prevents cargo from sliding or otherwise moving off of the front end of the trailer or truck bed. The headboard can also serve as a connection place and support structure for the front-most bow of a tarp cover system. In some systems, the front most-bow will be fixedly connected to the headboard, whereas in other systems the bow will be detachably connected to the headboard.
In existing tarp cover systems, the bow is detachably connected to the headboard in one of a variety of different ways, including by way of c-clamps, over-centre clamps, or latch and pin connections. Some of these connection means require a significant amount of time and effort to engage and disengage. Others are not user-operable from outside of the cargo area. It is therefore desirable to develop a headboard having at least one quick release locking mechanism for releasably engaging and locking an end bow of a tarp cover system to the headboard. The locking mechanism can engage the bow in a plurality of regions in order to allow for a sufficient and substantially uniform degree of tension to be applied to the tarp cover. Moreover, it is also desirable that the locking mechanism be operable by a person from the exterior of the cargo enclosure (e.g. tarp cover).
In addition, many existing headboards are designed for specific applications and are therefore fabricated with specific dimensions. The heights of such headboards are generally not adjustable. Therefore a particular headboard having a certain height may not be well suited for use with other tarp covering systems of different heights. It is therefore desirable to develop a height-adjustable headboard. A height adjustable headboard can be used with tarp cover systems of different heights.
Moreover, many existing headboards are fully assembled during fabrication. The components of some of these headboards are welded, riveted, or otherwise bonded together. This makes it difficult and impractical to disassemble such headboards for shipping and storage purposes. Therefore it is also desirable to develop a headboard that is modular in nature and that can be easily assembled and disassembled.
For the foregoing reasons, it can be appreciated that a need exists for a modular headboard that can be easily assembled from its component parts and also easily disassembled. There is also a need for a headboard that is height-adjustable. There is a further need for a headboard having a locking mechanism for releasably engaging and locking an end bow of a tarp cover system to the headboard.